Preston 4 Palace 1

28 August 2012

Crystal Palace took the field at the home of League One Preston North End making a number of changes from their weekend defeat and one of those saw the return of midfielder Jonathan Williams after recovery from a pre-season injury.

The visitors though got off to the worst possible start when in the opening minute Akpo Sodje found Nicky Wroe and from inside the box he fired low into the net to give North End the early advantage.

Two saves by Price from both Sodje and Wroe kept the margin at just the one but it was not long before the second of the night. On eighteen minutes a Paul Huntington cross went out of play and the visitors felt aggrieved when a corner was given but it was. Darcy Blake blocked the first shot from the set piece but when it came back out it fell to Sodje who beat the 'keeper from close range to extend the lead.

The home side were dominating the cup tie but Palace got themselves back into the game as Williams did well down the left and then delivered a good cross that was headed home by Aaron Wilbraham to reduce the arrears.

The two goal advantage was soon regained when a tremendous 25 yard strike from Jeffrey Monakana gave Price no chance as it went straight into the top right hand corner of the net. Will Hayhurst and Andy Procter both did well for the Lilywhites before playing the ball out to Monakana and he made no mistake as he unleashed an unstoppable strike just before half time.

Wilfried Zaha and Andre Moritz came on at the start of the second half and made an immediate impact as Palace enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges.

First a penalty claim was waved away by referee Eddie Ilderton and then midfielder Stuart O'Keefe was put in by Zaha but his shot went wide of the target.

Zaha and Moritz combined well with an exchange of passes before the new signing tried to beat the keeper with a lobbed effort but it went over the bar.

Despite the good spell the fourth goal came at the other end as Wroe got his second of the night. A good one-two between Monakana and Wroe and the skipper’s shot could only be pushed onto the inside of the post and into the net by Price.

To Palace’s credit they kept pushing to try and get back in the game and Dean Moxey’s ball from the left was nearly turned into his own net by a defender and late opportunities for Zaha, Garvan and Moritz were not turned into any further goals and last year’s semi-finalists were knocked out of the competition.